1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a bottle stopper and, more particularly, to such a bottle stopper that can be used repeatedly.
2. Description of the Related Art
When using a bottle to hold a liquid material it must be sealed with a cork or bottle cap, preventing direct contact of the liquid material with the outside air. If the bottle is not well sealed, the outside air-deteriorates the contained liquid material quickly. For example, glass bottles are commonly used to contain wine and sealed with a cork or bottle cap. The sealing status of a bottle directly affects the quality of the substance contained in the bottle.
However, if a bottle of wine is not drunk empty when opened, the cork or bottle cap must be fastened to the bottle again, preventing deterioration of contained wine. However, a metal bottle cap cannot be used again due to structural damage when removed from the bottle. If a bottle is sealed with a cork, the user may have to use a corkscrew to remove the cork from the bottle. When removed from the bottle by a corkscrew, the cork is damaged and cannot be used again to seal the bottle tightly.
It is therefore desirable to provide a bottle stopper that eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is therefore the main object of the present invention to provide a bottle stopper, which can be used repeatedly to seal the bottle in an airtight status.
To achieve this object of the present invention, the bottle stopper comprises a hollow tubular stopper body a press member, a return member, an inner cap and a flexible outer cap. The stopper body has a receiving open chamber in an upper part thereof and a lower part formed of two symmetrical halves. The two symmetrical halves each have a protruding block and a stop edge. The press member is inserted into the stopper body and movable between a first position and a second position. The press member has a bottom end terminating in a stop portion and a front tip. The return member is mounted within the receiving open chamber of the stopper body around the press member and adapted to support the press member in the first position. The inner cap is capped on the lower part of the stopper body and rotatable relative to the stopper body. The inner cap has a plug hole in a bottom side of a split lower part thereof. The outer cap is capped on the inner cap. When the press member moved to the second position, the stop portion of the press member is stopped below the stop edges of the stopper body against the protruding blocks of the symmetrical halves of the stopper body to force the two symmetrical halves of the lower part of the stopper body bilaterally radially outwards, and the front tip of the press member is plugged into the plug hole of the inner cap to stretch the split lower part of the inner cap outwards. When the stopper body rotated relative to the inner cap through a predetermined angle, the stop edge is moved away from the stop portion of the press member, and the return member returns the press member to the first position, releasing stretching force from the outer cap.